In general, protein kinases are the largest set of structurally related phosphoryl transferases, have highly conserved structures and catalytic functions and may be categorized into families by the substrates they phosphorylate (e.g., protein-tyrosine, protein-serine/threonine, histidine and the like) and are responsible for the control of a wide variety of cellular signal transduction processes.
Examples of protein-tyrosine kinases include, but are not limited to, Irk, IGFR-1, Zap-70, Bmx, Btk, CHK (Csk homologous kinase), CSK (C-terminal Src Kinase), Itk-1, Src (c-Src, Lyn, Fyn, Lck, Syk, Hck, Yes, Blk, Fgr and Frk), Tec, Txk/Rlk, Abl, EGFR (EGFR-1/ErbB-1, ErbB-2/NEU/HER-2, ErbB-3 and ErbB-4), FAK, FGF1R (also FGFR1 or FGR-1), FGF2R (also FGR-2), MET (also Met-1 or c-MET), PDGFR (α and β), Tie-1, Tie-2 (also Tek-1 or Tek), VEGFRI (also FLT-1), VEGFR2 (also KDR), FLT-3, FLT-4, c-KIT, JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, TYK2, LOK, RET, TRKA, PYK2, ALK (Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase), EPHA (1-8), EPHB (1-6), RON, Fes, Fer or EPHB4 (also EPHB4-1).
Examples of protein-serine/threonine kinases include, but are not limited to, Ark, ATM (1-3), CamK (I-IV), CamKK, Chk1 and 2 (Checkpoint kinases), CK1, CK2, Erk, IKK-I (also IKK-ALPHA or CHUK), IKK-2 (also IKK-BETA), Ilk, Jnk (1-3), LimK (1 and 2), MLK3Raf (A, B, and C), CDK (1-10), PKC (including all PKC subtypes), Plk (1-3), NIK, Pak (1-3), PDK1, PKR, RhoK, RIP, RIP-2, GSK3 (α and β), PKA, P38, Erk (1-3), PKB (including all PKB subtypes) (also AKT-1, AKT-2, AKT-3 or AKT3-1), IRAK1, FRK, SGK, TAK1 or Tpl-2 (also COT).
Protein kinases play very important roles in the normal regulation of cell growth. However, as a result of dysregulation of the tyrosine kinases (receptor or non-receptor) or the ligands of the receptor tyrosine kinases, signaling can become deregulated, resulting in uncontrolled cell proliferation leading to cancer or a related disease, disorder or syndrome.
Protein kinases catalyze and regulate the process of phosphorylation, whereby the kinases covalently attach phosphate groups to proteins or lipid targets in response to a variety of extracellular signals: hormones, neurotransmitters, growth and differentiation factors, cell cycle events, environmental stresses, nutritional stresses and the like.
Phosphorylation modulates or regulates a variety of cellular processes such as proliferation, growth, differentiation, metabolism, apoptosis, motility, transcription, translation and other signaling processes. Defective control of protein phosphorylation due to unregulated cellular mitosis, unregulated cell proliferation and upregulated kinase activity has been implicated in a number of diseases and disease conditions, such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, synovial pannus invasion in arthritis, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, diabetes mellitus, diabetic angiopathy, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vessel proliferation, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohns disease, ulcerative colitis, bone diseases, transplant or bone marrow transplant rejection, lupus, chronic pancreatitis, cachexia, septic shock, fibroproliferative and differentiative skin diseases or disorders, central nervous system diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, disorders or conditions related to nerve damage and axon degeneration subsequent to a brain or spinal cord injury, acute or chronic cancer, occular diseases, viral infections, heart disease, lung or pulmonary diseases or kidney or renal diseases. Therefore, kinase inhibitors have potential use as therapeutic agents.
The term “myasthenia gravis” means a disease having the characteristic feature of easy fatigue of certain voluntary muscle groups on repeated use. Muscles of the face or upper trunk are especially likely to be affected. In most and perhaps all cases, the disease is due to the development of autoantibodies against the acetylcholine receptor in neuromuscular junctions. Immunization of animals with this receptor protein leads to a disease with the features of myasthenia gravis.
In reference to “synovial pannus invasion in arthritis,” the term “pannus” means a disease whereby vascularised granulation tissue rich in fibroblasts, lymphocytes and macrophages, derived from synovial tissue, overgrows the bearing surface of the joint in rheumatoid arthritis and is associated with the breakdown of the articular surface.
The tyrosine kinases can further be categorized by whether they are receptor tyrosine kinases or non-receptor tyrosine kinases. The receptor tyrosine kinases span the cell membrane with a ligand interacting domain protruding from the cell, with a hydrophobic trans-membrane domain, and a cytoplasmic domain that contains the catalytic kinase domain and other regulatory sequences. Non-receptor tyrosine kinases are often myristylated or modified by the addition of other hydrophobic moieties that allow them to be anchored to the cell membrane.
Cyclin dependent kinases (CDK) constitute a class of enzymes that play critical roles in regulating the transitions between different phases of the cell cycle, such as the progression from a quiescent stage in G1 (the gap between mitosis and the onset of DNA replication for a new round of cell division) to S (the period of DNA synthesis), or the progression from G2 to M phase, in which active mitosis and cell-division occur. See, e.g., the articles compiled in Science, vol. 274 (1996), p. 1643-1677; and Ann. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol, vol. 13 (1997), pp. 261-291. CDK complexes are formed through association of a regulatory cyclin subunit (e.g., cyclin A, B1, B2, D1, D2, D3, and E) and a catalytic kinase subunit (e.g., cdc2 (CDK1), CDK2, CDK4, CDK5, and CDK6). As the name implies, the CDKs display an absolute dependence on the cyclin subunit in order to phosphorylate their target substrates, and different kinase/cyclin pairs function to regulate progression through specific portions of the cell cycle.
The D cyclins are sensitive to extracellular growth signals and become activated in response to mitogens during the G1 phase of the cell cycle. CDK4/cyclin D plays an important role in cell cycle progression by phosphorylating, and thereby inactivating, the retinoblastoma protein (Rb). Hypophosphorylated Rb binds to a family of transcriptional regulators, but upon hyperphosphorylation of Rb by CDK4/cyclin D, these transcription factors are released to activate genes whose products are responsible for S phase progression. Rb phosphorylation and inactivation by CDK4/cyclin D permit passage of the cell beyond the restriction point of the G1 phase, whereupon sensitivity to extracellular growth or inhibitory signals is lost and the cell is committed to cell division. During late G1, Rb is also phosphorylated and inactivated by CDK2/cyclin E, and recent evidence indicates that CDK2/cyclin E can also regulate progression into S phase through a parallel pathway that is independent of Rb phosphorylation (see Lukas et al., “Cyclin E-induced S Phase Without Activation of the pRb/E2F Pathway,” Genes and Dev., vol. 11 (1997), pp. 1479-1492).
The progression from G1 to S phase, accomplished by the action of CDK4/cyclin D and CDK2/cyclin E, is subject to a variety of growth regulatory mechanisms, both negative and positive. Growth stimuli, such as mitogens, caused increased synthesis of cyclin D1 and thus increased functional CDK4. By contrast, cell growth can be “reined in,” in response to DNA damage or negative growth stimuli, by the induction of endogenous inhibitory proteins. These naturally occurring protein inhibitors include p21WAF1/CIP1, p27KIP1, and the p16INK4 family, the latter of which inhibit CDK4 exclusively (see Harper, “Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitors,” Cancer Surv., vol. 29 (1997), pp. 91-107). Aberrations in this control system, particularly those that affect the function of CDK4 and CKD2, are implicated in the advancement of cells to the highly proliferative state characteristic of malignancies, such as familial melanomas, esophageal carcinomas, and pancreatic cancers (see, e.g., Hall and Peters, “Genetic Alterations of Cyclins, Cyclin-Dependent Kinases, and CDK Inhibitors in Human Cancer,” Adv. Cancer Res., vol. 68 (1996), pp. 67-108; and Kamb et al., “A Cell Cycle Regulator Potentially Involved in Genesis of Many Tumor Types,” Science, vol. 264 (1994), pp. 436-440). Over-expression of cyclin D1 is linked to esophageal, breast, and squamous cell carcinomas (see, e.g., DelSal et al., “Cell Cycle and Cancer: Critical Events at the G1 Restriction Point,” Critical Rev. Oncogenesis, vol. 71 (1996), pp. 127-142). Genes encoding the CDK4-specific inhibitors of the p16 family frequently have deletions and mutations in familial melanoma, gliomas, leukemias, sarcomas, and pancreatic, non-small cell lung, and head and neck carcinomas (see Nobori et al., “Deletions of the Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-4 Inhibitor Gene in Multiple Human Cancers,” Nature, vol. 368 (1994), pp. 753-756). Amplification and/or overexpression of cyclin E has also been observed in a wide variety of solid tumors, and elevated cyclin E levels have been correlated with poor prognosis. In addition, the cellular levels of the CDK inhibitor p27, which acts as both a substrate and inhibitor of CDK2/cyclin E, are abnormally low in breast, colon, and prostate cancers, and the expression levels of p27 are inversely correlated with the state of disease (see Loda et al., “Increased Proteasome-dependent Degradation of the Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 in Aggressive Colorectal Carcinomas,” Nature Medicine, vol. 3 (1997), pp. 231-234). The p21 protein also appear to transmit the p53 tumor-suppression signal to the CDKs; thus, the mutation of p53 in approximately 50% of all human cancers may indirectly result in deregulation of CDK activity.
In the eukaryotic cell cycle a key role is played by the cyclin dependent kinases. CDK complexes are formed via the association of a regulatory cyclin subunit and a catalytic kinase subunit. In mammalian cells, the combination of the kinase subunits (such as CDK1, CDK2, CDK4 or CDK6) with a variety of cyclin subunits (such as cyclin A, B, D1, D2, D3 or E) results in the assembly of functionally distinct kinase complexes. The coordinated activation of these complexes drives the cells through the cell cycle and ensures the fidelity of the process (Draetta, G., Trends Biochem. Sci., 1990, 15:378-382; Sherr, C. J., Cell, 1993, 73:1059-1065). Each step in the cell cycle is regulated by a distinct and specific cyclin-dependent kinase. Regulation occurs at the boundaries of the G1/S and G2/M phases, two major transition points of the cell cycle. For example, complexes of CDK4 and D-type cyclins govern the early G1 phase of the cell cycle, while the activity of the CDK2/cyclin E complex is rate limiting for the G1 to S-phase transition. The CDK2/cyclin A kinase is required for the progression through S-phase and the CDK1/cyclin B complex controls the entry into M-phase (Sherr, 1993). A key regulator of these transitions is CDK1 kinase, a universal intracellular factor which triggers the G2/M transition of the cell cycle in all organisms. Both biochemical and genetic evidence have shown that CDK1 is the primary activity required for a cell to enter mitosis in all eukaryotic cells. In late G2, it is present as an inactive complex of CDK1 and cyclin B. In M phase, it is activated and thereafter displays kinase activity. CDK1 is known to phosphorylate a number of proteins including histone H1, DNA polymerase alpha, RNA polymerase II, retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (RB), p53, nucleolin, cAb1 and lamin A. The kinase activity of CDK1 is required for entry of cells into mitosis, i.e., for passage from the G2 phase of the cell cycle into the M phase (Lee M. and Nurse P., Trends Genet., 1988, 4:289-90; Dunphy W. G., Brizuela L., Beach D. and Newport J., Cell, 1988, 54:423-431; Gautier J., Norbury C., Lohka M., Nurse P. and Maller J., Cell, 1988, 54:433-439; Cross F., Roberts J. and Weintraub H., Ann. Rev. Cell Biol., 1989, 5:341-395; Hunt, T. and Sherr, C., Curr. Opinion Cell Biol., 1989, 1:268-274; and, Nurse, P., Nature, 1990, 344:503-508). Therefore, using cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors for tumor therapy has the potential for inhibiting tumor growth or controlling unregulated cell proliferation.
Many conventional cytotoxic cancer therapies destroy the rapidly dividing epithelium of the hair follicle and induce alopecia (hair loss). Inhibition of cyclin dependent kinases during conventional chemotherapy may represent a therapeutic strategy for prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia by arresting the cell cycle and reducing the sensitivity of epithelial cells to antitumor agents (Davis S. T., et al., Prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia in rats by CDK inhibitors, Science, 2001, (January 5), 291, 5501, 25-6). Accordingly, to be useful in a method for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia, a CDK inhibitor compound would have to be cytostatic rather than cytotoxic and be able to hold the cell in a stationary growth phase, thus protecting a hair follicle from the cytotoxic activity of a conventional chemotherapeutic agent being administered at the same time. In this way, topical application of non-apoptotic CDK inhibitors represents a potentially useful approach for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia in cancer patients.
A second protein target that can facilitate elimination of a tumor is the tyrosine kinase vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor. This protein is associated with both normal and pathological angiogenesis. The VEGF receptors are tripartite, consisting of an extracellular ligand-binding domain, a transmembrane domain and an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain. Presently there are two known VEGF receptors: (1) VEGF-R2 (KDR/Flk1/VEGF-R2), a receptor that mediates the biological activities of mitogenesis and proliferation of endothelial cells; and (2) VEGF-R1 (Flt1/VEGF-R1), a receptor that mediates functions such as endothelial cell adhesion. Inhibition of VEGF-R2 signalling has been shown to inhibit the process of angiogenesis. Inhibitors of this receptor are likely useful in controlling or limiting angiogenesis.
Many conventional cytotoxic cancer therapies destroy the rapidly dividing epithelium of the hair follicle and induce alopecia (hair loss). Inhibition of cyclin dependent kinases during conventional chemotherapy may represent a therapeutic strategy for prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia by arresting the cell cycle and reducing the sensitivity of epithelial cells to antitumor agents (Davis S. T., et al., Prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia in rats by CDK inhibitors, Science, 2001, (January 5), 291, 5501, 25-6). Accordingly, to be useful for such an application, a CDK inhibitor compound would have to be cytostatic, rather than cytotoxic and be able to hold the cell in a stationary growth phase which would protect it from the cytotoxic activity of a conventional chemotherapeutic agent being administered at the same time. In this way, topical application of non-apoptotic CDK inhibitors represents a potentially useful approach for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia in cancer patients.
Although coronary angioplasty is a highly effective procedure used to reduce the severity of coronary occlusion, its long-term success is limited by a high rate of restenosis. Vascular smooth muscle cell activation, migration and proliferation is largely responsible for restenosis following angioplasty (Ross, R., Nature, 1993, 362, 801-809). Recent studies have shown that CDK2 is activated very early after endothelial denudation in a rat carotid artery model of restenosis (Wei, G. L., et al., Circ. Res., 1997, 80, 418-426). Therefore, antiproliferative therapies targeted to cyclin dependent kinases or other components of the cell cycle machinery may be a suitable approach to treat these disorders. One aspect for use of the compounds of the present invention is a method for the treatment of restenosis wherein a CDK inhibitor is impregnated on the surface of an angioplasty balloon or stent, thus targeting drug delivery to the local environment where endothelial and smooth muscle cell proliferation are the leading cause of vascular occlusion following an initial angioplasty and restenosis in the area of a stent's implantation (Eric E. Brooks, Nathanael S. Gray, Alison Joly, Suresh S. Kerwar, Robert Lum, Richard L. Mackman, Thea C. Norman, Jose Rosete, Michael Rowe, Steven R. Schow, Peter G. Schultz, Xingbo Wang, Michael M. Wick and Dov Shiffman, CVT-313, a Specific and Potent Inhibitor of CDK2 That Prevents Neointimal Proliferation, J. Biol. Chem., 1997, 272(46):29207-29211).
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine-kinase family includes the receptors EGFR (also referred to as EGFR-1 or Erb-B1), HER-2 (or neu), EGFR3 and EGFR4. Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), Transforming Growth Factor-α (TGF-α) and the HER-2 ligand heregulin are three of the ligands that bind to the EGFR receptors.
For example, EGFR overexpression or mutation of one or more EGFR kinase family members has been commonly involved in cancer and other diseases characterized by uncontrolled or abnormal cell growth. Diseases associated with increased EGFR expression include proliferative glomerulonephritis, diabetes-induced renal disease and chronic pancreatitis. Deregulation of EGFR has also been associated with epidermoid tumors, head and neck tumors, breast tumors and tumors involving other major organs, such as the lungs and gastrointestinal tract. The clinically prevalent cancers related to EGFR include lung, gastric and head and neck cancer (Klijn JG, Berns PM, Schmitz P I and Foekens JA; The clinical significance of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) in human breast cancer: a review on 5232 patients, Endocr. Rev., 1992, 13, 3-17; Salomon D and Gullick W; The erbB family of receptors and their ligands: Multiple targets for therapy, Signal, 2001, 2, 4-11).
In treating cancers of the head such as brain cancers and the like, the ability of small molecule EGFR inhibitors to penetrate the blood brain barrier could have therapeutic advantages since EGFR is often overexpressed in primary brain tumors and also in breast and non-small cell lung carcinomas that frequently metastasize to the brain (Eckstrand AJ, Sugawa N, James CD and Collins VP; Amplified and rearranged epidermal growth factor receptor genes in human glioblastomas reveal deletions of sequences encoding portions of the N- and/or C-terminal tails, Proc. Acad. Natl. Sci. USA, 1992, 89, 4309-4313; and, Wickstrand CJ, Hale LP, Batra SK, Hill ML, Humphrey PA, Kurpad SN, McLendon RE, Moscatello D, Pegram CN, Reist CJ, Traweek ST, Wong AJ, Zalutsky MR and Bigner, DD; Monoclonal antibodies against EGFRvIII are tumor specific and react with breast and lung carcinomas and malignant gliomas, Cancer Res., 1995, 55, 3140-3148).
EGFR inhibitors tested in neurite outgrowth assays have activity in promoting neurite outgrowth in both cerebellar granule cells and dorsal root ganglion neurons, likely by acting directly on neurons to block neuronal inhibitory responses to myelin inhibitors, and thus an EGFR inhibitor may have potential use for promoting axon regeneration after brain and spinal cord injury (V. Koprivica, et al., EGFR activation mediates inhibition of axon regeneration by myelin and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, Science, 2005, 310, 106).
HER1 and HER2 overexpression has been implicated in a variety of cancers, such as bladder, breast, colorectal, endometrial, esophageal, gastric(stomach), glioma head and neck, lung (non-small cell lung cancer), ovarian, pancreatic, renal and prostate cancer.
Comparing the overexpression of HER1 and HER2 in tumors, according to order of prevalence, HER1 overexpression is found in breast, renal cell, lung, colorectal, head and neck, ovarian, pancreatic, glioma, bladder, esophageal, gastric, endometrial and cervical cancer tumors; in contrast, HER2 overexpression is found in esophageal, head and neck, lung, gastric, renal cell, breast, bladder, ovarian and colorectal, prostate and endometrial cancer tumors (Horizons in Cancer Therapeutics: From Bench to Bedside, Signal Transduction Inhibitors, 2001, 2(2), ISSN 1532-3048).
While the degree of HER2 overexpression in breast and ovarian cancer is not as great as in some other cancers, HER2 has been found to be responsible for these clinically prevalent cancers (Slamon DJ, Clark GM, Wong SG, Levin WJ, Ullrich A and McGuire WL; Human breast cancer: Correlation of relapse and survival with amplification of HER-2/neu oncogene, Science, 1987, 235, 177-82; Slamon DJ, Godolphin W, Jones LA, Holt JA, Wong SG, Keith DE, et al.; Studies of the HER-2/neu proto-oncogene in human breast and ovarian cancer, Science, 1989, 244, 707-712; Hetzel DJ, Wilson TO, Keeney GL, Roche PC, Cha SS and Podrantz KC; HER-2/neu expression: A major prognostic factor in endometrial cancer, Gynecol. Oncol., 1992, 47, 179-85).
Furthermore, patients with HER-2 overexpressing breast cancer frequently experience metastases to the brain (Kirsch DG and Hochberg FH; Targeting HER-2 in brain metastases from breast cancer, Clin. Can. Res., 2003, 9, 5435-5436). These patients have an extremely poor prognosis and intracerebral tumors are often the cause of death. Autopsy revealed that 20-30% of patients who die of breast cancer have brain metastases (Grossi PM, Ochiai H, Archer GE, McLendon RE, Zalutsky MR, Friedman AH, Friedman HS, Bigner DD and Sampson JH; Efficacy of intracerebral microinfusion of trastuzumab in an athymic rat model of intracerebral metastatic breast cancer, Clin. Can. Res., 2003, 9, 5514-5520).
Aurora kinases (Aurora-A, Aurora-B and Aurora-C) are highly conserved tyrosine kinases found in all organisms where they function to regulate microtubule dynamics during the M phase of the cell cycle and are essential for mitotic progression. Aurora-A kinase associates with the centrosome around the pericentriolar material, as well as the microtubules at the bipolar mitotic-spindle poles and the midbody microtubules and plays a role in spindle formation and organization of the centrosome. Aurora-B regulates chromosomal movement and cytokinesis and Aurora-C's biological function is not yet understood. The Aurora-A kinase is involved in centrosome separation, duplication and maturation as well as in bipolar spindle assembly and stability. Aurora-A is overexpressed in a number of different human cancers and tumor cell lines. Overexpression of Aurora is sufficient to induce growth in soft agar and transforms cells making them tumorigenic. Inhibition of Aurora activity results in centrosome/chromosome segregation defects leading to monopolar spindles and polyploidy which induces cell apoptosis in a variety of cancer cell lines and has suppressed tumor growth in vivo.
Certain oxime substituted pyrimidines are registered by the Chemical Abstracts Society (CAS) such as 4,6-diamino-5-pyrimidinecarboxaldehyde oxime (CAS Registry No.: 109831-69-8) and N,N′-dimethyl-5-[(methylimino)methyl]-4,6-pyrimidinediamine (CAS Registry No.: 14160-97-5) and described in Heterocycles, 1987, 25(1), 343-5. Certain references describe substituted pyrimidine compounds such as U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,750, 6,107,301 and 6,833,378.
There is a need for potent small-molecule kinase inhibitors of one or more of the CDK, EGFR (pan-HER), VEGF, Aurora-A or RET kinase proteins and the like possessing anti-tumor cell proliferation activity, and as such are useful for treating a CDK, EGFR, VEGF, Aurora-A or RET kinase receptor mediated, angiogenesis-mediated or hyperproliferative disorders.